Dallol, Ethiopia

You are staring at one of the toughest places on the planet. Pretty to look at but semi-terrifying to touch, Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression, located in Dallol, is quite literally the hottest place on Earth (and one of the Earth’s most colorful places!). You could be distracted from the fact that the average yearly temperature is over 94 degrees fahrenheit by the colorful hydrothermal pools and crusty salt lakes.

Dallol's high humidity (about 60 percent) and the toxic gases that rise from its sulfur ponds, which have a Hades-like appearance, are not the only things that make the place so hot. It also doesn't cool off at night. Dallol has an average low temperature of 87 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than many locations on Earth ever receive. While many of the world's hot spots are situated in deserts, where temperature differences between day and night are just as severe as those experienced during either.

Dallol is regarded as a "ghost town", meaning that nobody resides there permanently. There have been a number of commercial businesses in the past in and around Dallol. Operations have mostly focused on mining, from potash to salt, however due to Dallol's isolation, these ended in the 1960s. Dallol is also far away. Although a railway connected Dallol with the port of Mersa Fatma, Eritrea, in the early 20th century, today, if you wish to travel independently, the only way to get to Dallol is by camel.

Location: Dallol, Ethiopia